When a roving package is unloaded from a flyer-type spinner the roving is cut and a tail is left hanging from the guide or applicator finger of the flyer. The trailing end is pressed against the package so that it clings there and with luck does not come loose as the package is moved off to the next production step. The strand tail dangling from the guide finger is pressed against the side of the next spool loaded into the flyer for forming the next package. During the winding operation the flyer normally reciprocates vertically through a continuously shorter stroke so as to form on the spool successive layers each slightly shorter than the underlying one, giving the finished package frustoconically tapered upper and lower ends, although it is possible to achieve this package shape otherwise, for instance with constant-length strokes but with a slight vertical translatory movement to the vertically reciprocating spool.
In commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,621 of myself and G. Feichtinger a system is described where the spinning apparatus winds a strand onto a yarn package by relatively rotating a flyer and the yarn package about an upright axis so as to wind the strand in a succession of turns around the package by a flyer finger movable axially relative to the package. Each successive layer of turns has a lower upper end than the preceding one so that the finished package has an axially upwardly tapered upper end. After substantially completely forming the package the rotation is generally stopped to leave the flyer in a position with the finger below the upper end of the last layer of turns formed on the package. Then the package and finger are relatively axially moved until the finger is generally at the upper end of the first layer of turns formed on the package. The flyer and package are then relatively rotated forward, that is in the same direction as when the package was being formed, through at least one half revolution about the axis so as to form a loop of the strand around the upwardly tapered upper package end. Slack is then created in the strand upstream of the package and the finger is moved downward below the level of the upper end of the outer layer. Finally the strand is cut below the level of the upper end of the outer layer.
This action leaves on the package an easily accessible loop formed by the trailing end of the roving wound on the package, making subsequent use of the package easy. In addition a short piece of the leading end of the unspun roving is left hanging from the free end of the flyer finger, making it easy to apply it to the next spool to form another package. The disadvantage of the method of the '621 patent is that it must be carried out at a particular time, when the applicator finger of the flyer is immediately below the upper end of the last-applied turn. Thus a package cannot be wound to an exact weight or filament length.